FILE PHOTO: An Air India Airbus A320neo plane takes off in Colomiers near Toulouse, France, December 13, 2017. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau

India will invite initial bids for a stake sale in Air India over the next couple of weeks, the country’s Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Choubey said on Thursday.

After successive governments failed to keep the flagship carrier solvent even after billions of dollars of investment, the Indian government gave the go-ahead last year to sell it.

The government, however, is yet to decide on what to do with the carrier’s $8.5 billion debt.

Companies including low-cost carrier IndiGo, owned by InterGlobe Aviation (INGL.NS), Tata Group and Turkey’s Celebi Aviation Holdings have also expressed an interest in buying some of Air India’s businesses.

Jet Airways, Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines were not immediately available for comment.